Ted Cruz: Does He Stand A Chance At Winning The Presidency? – Reagan Was Not Supposed To Win Either

WASHINGTON – In the eyes of the political and media elite, presidential candidate Ted Cruz is far too extreme ideologically to win the nomination; doesn’t have enough support from party bigwigs; is hated by almost everyone and no one trusts him; uses distortive, misleading rhetoric; is venal and self-obsessed; says crazy things; is not actually very smart; and is everything that is wrong with modern politics.

In the eyes of the political and media elite, Ronald Reagan was too extreme and too simple to win the presidential nomination; a potential disaster for the GOP in the general election; an amiable dunce who was shockingly dumb and cruel; an evil man with no care and no concern for working-class Americans and future generations; cold and mean with ice water for blood; and an egotistical bore who had no friends, only cronies.

See any resemblance?

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, hasn’t been popular with either establishment Washington or the establishment media ever since his election to the Senate in 2012, but reaction to his announcement last week that he is running for president appears to have put the criticism into overdrive.

No Republican, arguably, has received such intense condemnation since Reagan.

And many of the criticisms seem remarkably similar.

Former Reagan presidential aide Jeffrey Lord told WND, “What’s being said about Ted Cruz today was said endlessly by establishment Republicans about Ronald Reagan.”

“They were wrong then; they are wrong now,” added the associate political director in the Reagan White House.

One of the biggest criticisms has been that Cruz has so little support among those GOP elite.

According to the New York Times, Cruz is “a long shot, at best” to win the Republican nomination because:

“Political scientists argue that the single most important determinant of the outcome of the nomination is support from party elites: those operatives who can staff a winning campaign; the donors who fund it; the elected officials and interest group leaders who bestow the credibility necessary to persuade voters and affect media coverage.”

Cruz has argued the most important factor is actually votes, not support from the party elite.

WND reported in February that Cruz described how establishment Washington hated Reagan as a candidate and how he went over the heads of GOP elite and took his case straight to the people, from where his real power came.

Cruz even sees his outsider status as an asset, telling CNN over the weekend, “I’ll point out there’s almost an inverse relationship between being liked and appreciated in Washington, D.C., and reviled back home, and being reviled in Washington and appreciated back home.”

The four categories in which Cruz is receiving criticism similar to that which was directed at Reagan involve questions about their:

D.C. popularity

Electability

Intelligence

Character

D.C. popularity

Cruz:

Foreign Policy : “The most hated man in the Senate … Ted Cruz has been, for all practical purposes, the human equivalent of one of those flower-squirters that clowns wear on their lapels.”

New York Times: “Mr. Cruz has done nothing to endear himself to the elites. He won the party’s nomination for the Senate by defeating David Dewhurst, an establishment favorite and the sitting lieutenant governor of Texas.”

Salon: “He’s not going to win, largely because almost everyone hates him and no one trusts him.”

FiveThirtyEight: “Cruz almost certainly has no shot of winning the nomination, according to every indicator that predicts success in presidential primaries. … Cruz is likely far too extreme ideologically to win the nomination.”

Michael Brendan Dougherty : “There is nothing about Cruz that appeals to people beyond his political sect … This isn’t a campaign: It’s a political fantasy and infomercial.”

Former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller: “No major American party can long endure by directing its appeal to a narrow minority. It will not serve the nation to have our major parties polarized at ideological extremes.”

See the video: Cruz counters media accusation he is anti-science on climate change

Intelligence

Cruz:

Gov. Jerry Brown, D-Calif.: “That man betokens such a level of ignorance and a direct falsification of the existing scientific data. It’s shocking and I think that man has rendered himself absolutely unfit to be running for office.”

Salon: “The ‘Ted Cruz is smart’ trap: Why this garbage is false – and dangerous. The Texas senator convinces all of his enemies to praise his intellect. Here’s why they’re wrong – and should stop … Cruz has become notorious for using distortive, misleading rhetoric that no sober-minded individual could apply … He has alienated all of his colleagues, and wants to revive the gay marriage fight at a time when it couldn’t be more unwise … One whose mind is clamped shut cannot be intelligent, and yet Ted Cruz does not in his life ever seem to have taken on board a single challenge to his worldview … consistent overgenerous assessment of Cruz’s brains … The man is arrogant, but he doesn’t actually seem very smart.”

The Chicago Tribune: (His) “air-headed rhetoric on the issues of foreign policy and arms control have reached the limits of tolerance and have become an embarrassment to the U.S. and a danger to world peace.”

Nomiki Konst, The Accountability Project: “Ted Cruz is a flashback to the medieval times. This is a man who is empowering rapists, essentially … He is so hypocritical in so many different ways, I think he is just trying to appeal to the base.”

The Week: “[H]e’s so venal and self-obsessed that he’ll use genocide victims as punching bags for a domestic audience.”

Salon:”[A] showboat … Googling ‘Ted Cruz lies’ pulls back an astonishing 7,890,000 results, and on Twitter, the two phrases are basically synonymous … (If not a liar) it would mean that Cruz is shockingly delusional … Cruz is actually very much a part of the financial corruption in the Beltway that Americans find so repugnant … Cruz’s penchant for bloated duplicity … a politician as dishonest and entrenched in establishment ways as any other … he is just as much a huckster as the rest of them … Cruz embodies everything that is wrong with modern politics.”

Foreign Policy: “He’s ideological, even compulsive, with regard to the Constitution … Cruz’s preoccupation with principles began early … he might come across as too wonkish and too aggressive to connect with voters … ‘Belligerent egghead’ has rarely been a winning brand in presidential politics.”

Salon: “[A] highly intelligent person who says crazy things because he knows what the tea party and other hardline conservatives like to hear … a cynical opportunist who will use anything – terrorists, diseases, hackers – to make political points that rile up the conservative faithful.”

Chris Matthews: “He’s so much like Joe McCarthy in the way he makes his indictments, the way he sweats and makes these arguments … this plan by the new Joe McCarthy which is always to blame the government as lawless … demagoguery is not a good career choice.”

Reagan

Former House Speaker Tip O’ Neill, D-Mass: “[T]he evil is on the White House at the present time. And that evil is a man who has no care and no concern for the working class of America and the future generations of America, and who likes to ride a horse. He’s cold. He’s mean. He’s got ice water for blood.”

The Nation: “He is the most dangerous person ever to come this close to the presidency” and “a menace to the human race.”

Eleanor Clift: “Greed in this this country is associated with Ronald Reagan.”

Sarah McClendon: “It will take a hundred years to get the government back into place after Ronald Reagan. He hurt people: the disabled, women, nursing mothers, the homeless.”

John Huston: A “bore” with a “low order of intelligence” and “egotistical.”

If that money is coming from the grassroots, his campaign may be catching fire, as did Reagan’s in 1980. If it is coming from the elites, they may be coming around to his side, as they did with Reagan after he showed his vote-getting power.

The fiery Texan also may not be as unpopular with his colleagues as the media would suggest.

Cruz has steadfastly adhered to Reagan’s “11th Commandment” and not spoken ill of fellow Republicans, even those who have attacked him.

And it just might be paying off.

Just before the Texan announced his candidacy, CNN quoted McCain as saying of Cruz: “He is a valued member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He and I are friendly, and I think he is a very viable candidate.”

McCain also suggested Cruz could beat Hillary Clinton and win the presidency in 2016.

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Since 2013, Christian news magazine The Olive Branch Report has featured the insightful writing and reporting of Greg Holt. His writing has been featured on American Prophet, American Clarion, Eagle Rising, Capitol Hill Outsider, Sons of Liberty Media, Rev. Austin Miles, and others. Greg is also the Publisher and Editor of Inspirational Christian Blogs.

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